COVENTRY - Authorities are warning residents that a rabid skunk was found last week on the Airport Road in Coventry.
Jim McFarland from the USDA found the dead skunk on the Airport Road between New England Waste Services landfill and Billings Point, town clerk Cindy Diaz said.
Diaz, under the recommendation from town health officer Pedro Grondin, posted a notice in the paper last week.

COVENTRY - Authorities are warning residents that a rabid skunk was found last week on the Airport Road in Coventry.
Jim McFarland from the USDA found the dead skunk on the Airport Road between New England Waste Services landfill and Billings Point, town clerk Cindy Diaz said.
Diaz, under the recommendation from town health officer Pedro Grondin, posted a notice in the paper last week.
"People should take precautions as far as vaccinating their animals," said Diaz. "If there is a strange animal outside, it's not quite acting right, and it's not yours, I would not have my children go up to touch it."
Diaz recommends anyone who thinks that a rabid animal bit a pet to contact a veterinarian. Grondin went one-step further and said that nobody should approach any wild animal.
Last year a rabid cat attacked someone at the landfill. That person had to go through a variety shots. Anyone who believes that an animal has rabies or has attacked someone should contact the town health officer or state police. Grondin believes part of the problem is that wild animals hunt for food at the landfill.

For more of this story, see Tuesday's edition of The Newport Daily Express for April 9, 2013.